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Wait on the Lord

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 5, 1909

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 86, No. 31.

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Wait on the Lord

By F. M. W.

It is necessary oftentimes to wait on the Lord. Everything does not come around at the expected time. There are days of apparent defeat, hours of darkness, occasions of keen disappointment, when hope, long deferred, almost goes out in blackness, and the weary heart grows faint at the thought of longer waiting and suspense.
David passed through just such experiences as these in his eventful life. He says: “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” He had not always seen the manifestation of God’s mercy and grace as he desired. He experienced long-waiting periods for the fulfilment of his cherished desires. But he believed he would see the salvation of God; and his faith in what God would eventually do for him, proved an anchor to his soul, and kept him from fainting by the way. Speaking as a result of this trial of his faith, he admonishes us: “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”
May this message and admonition bring comfort and cheer to the weary, fainting ones who read these words to-day. Some of you have waited long for the fulfilment of cherished hopes. You have toiled, and wept, and prayed, and still there seems to come no answer. Perhaps the burden of your prayer has been an erring son or a careless daughter, who apparently is growing more indifferent with passing years. It may be for an unconverted wife, who has resisted every effort to win her to God; or a drunken husband, who has met love with hate, and words of wifely tenderness and devotion with insult and abuse; or it may be the pouring out of filial love for the conversion of a parent who knows not God. You have waited day after day and year after year, hoping, longing, praying that God would hear and answer. Has it seemed so long? and have you almost given up the struggle? Hold on a little longer. Perhaps all these years God has been working by his Spirit to fulfil your desires. He has been shaping circumstances and conditions in the lives of your loved ones, whereby he could lead them to him. God usually works through means and agencies in the accomplishment of his purposes, and unknown to you, he has been working all the while you have been praying and waiting. Now, when the end is almost reached, and the darkness about to break, hold firm and steady a little longer. All these years God has not grown weary or faint hearted. We read of him, “He shall not fail, nor be discouraged.” Continue to co-operate with him, and the joy of fulfilled hope will some day be yours.
Continue to press your petitions to the throne of grace. Seek God for wisdom, that you may know how rightly to relate yourself to the subject of your prayer. Seek to show every kindly consideration to the unfeeling husband, the wayward child. Show by your life in the home the value of a connection with Christ. Be sparing of your words. Do not censure or find fault. Above all else, preach by your godly life. As you work and pray, trust and hope, and wait patiently for God. He in his own good time, and as he sees will be for the best, will fulfil the desires of every heart, and his children shall see of the travail of their souls and shall be satisfied. “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”
F. M. W.